Fistful of Lead goes to Africa ...Part 2.

 

Part 2...

By this stage in the game - roughly half way at turn 5 of a 10 turn game - things were looking worrisome for the Red Brigade terrorist cell members. They had lost two members - Johann & sniper Leo (10d Shooting/10d Combat), and their heavy diesel Mercedes truck has just been blazed up by 20mm cannon fire from an Alouette III,  leaving the remaining six cell members with only two vehicles.

A tough old Landcruiser (2 wounds of damage) and a very run down Ford station wagon (1 wound of damage).

M & myself had gathered most of our intel - hidden in the surrounding shacks, containers and dwellings -but we needed our cell members to high-tail it out of the farmstead compound. The muddy track was going to be a tough slog and according to the scenario the vehicles would be moving at half rate (10"). the other terrain was considered impassable for vehicles.

The militia units were moving quickly however, covering the choke points.

Carlos & Dieter had joined Ernst in the Land Cruiser. Clutching nothing but rifles and day bags full of notebooks, maps, technical drawings, and the odd bit of bomb-making tooling, they kicked the 4WD over and drove it out through the entrance.

Two cell members - Konrad (Medic) & Kaspar (RPG Specialist) - would have to be left behind to cover the retreat, and to die. They were both loyal ideologues and would happily go down fighting as they provided covering fire from behind the boundary wall.

The fire-fight around that boundary wall became quite intense with Kaspar holding out in his position, slotting a few militia with RPG fire as they attempted to bound across open ground to capture the position. S.'s militancy units also lost a few members. It became a pressing issue for the Africans...they had to take out that RPG, so they created a crossfire.

Kaspar took a few wounds in the exchange. He was dangerously close to dying with two wounds. Just as Konrad moved up to provide medical assistance, Yuri, an Israeli rifleman, jumped a barbed wire fence, ran up and took aim with his AR-15 (Shooting 12d) hitting Konrad fatally.

Kaspar wouldn't last much longer.

Things got worse for the cell. The three members in the Cruiser were peppered with AK47 rifle and RPD fire from one of S.'s militia units (4d8s) as they attempted to run the gauntlet ...at that close range, the damage took out the vehicle, but the cell members remained unharmed...

The three cell members - Carlos, Dieter & Ernst - would have to scarper across under fire and crank up the old wagon if they were to have any chance of escape. Ducking behind the ruined Cruiser, they would first have to deal with S.'s militia on the opposing side of the compound.

M. also had another cell member, Andreas, lurking behind the burnt out truck, waiting for an opportunity to jump in the wagon as well. He slid out from behind cover and started providing covering fire for his mates.

On the southern flank, the noose was tightening as D. brought his militia up.

These guys had plenty of ammo and grenades and were willing to share the love.

The Alouette III circled over head and was called into action twice more, but its fire was largely ineffectual.

The fighting around the the wagon became quite intense...at one point Carlos had to engage in some serious hand to hand combat, killing one militia and causing a retreat on the remaining member. 

He had the keys, and cranked it up.

Btu was soon sprayed with RPD fire....there were just too many militia to deal with by this stage.

The poor old wagon didn't stand a chance. It was a miracle it started at all...and at 1 Wound damage rating only another miracle would keep it running.

The vehicle was toast by now, and the cell members had to fight valiantly for their doomed cause. M. and myself decided it would be best if we could take few militia down, and perhaps, just maybe survive till the end of round 10 (game end). There was no way now we could break through the militia's line covering a retreat path.

Only Andreas survived without any wounds, however. Johann was captured and the rest of the cell, including their leader Carlos, were killed. All were considered high value targets by the Israelis.

The wash up...well it was pretty academic. A complete victory for the Militia/Israelis. It was only ever going to be an 'all or nothing' game for the Red Brigade cell members. They had lost their cell, and much of their valuable intel was now in the hands of their nemesis. Two members were captured

The militia units lost 6 members killed, to the Red Brigade's 6. The Israeli Commandos - Moshe, Yuri & Yosef - came away unscathed. 

S. & D. found about 17 pts worth of intel on the dead cell members. Each terrorist, as stated, was considered a 'high value target' and rated at 3pts each (as were the Special forces but militia were rated at 1pt).

The game lasted 10 turns however and it was a very hard fought victory for the Militia as the RB cell members held their ground and were quite ruthless and fanatical in defense.

The game lasted for about three hours, and everyone was pretty engaged that time. As a 'game', it was reasonably balanced...perhaps the chopper was a bit too powerful...or the RB cell could have had a light armoured vehicle (I don't have one to use! haha ) but we all decided that the game gave us a plausible result.

Three 6 man sections of armed militia, led by four Special Forces Commandos, with air cover support up against 8 men. A 'dug-in' style defence might have saved the cell, but that would have been a predictable and boring scenario, so I devised the scenario with a little more incentive to move & shoot.

That's what makes Fistful of Lead so great.

*I used the 'grunt' rules from the 'Galactic Heroes' version of Fistful of Lead.*

*The militia units were Eureka.*

*The 'Israelis' were my Portuguese Eureka.*

*The Red Brigades were the pre-painted 'terrorist' figures by Mongoose.*

*All the building, walls, roads terrain was scratch built, for a crappy disused farm it looks pretty authentic* 

*The rocky outcrops belonged to my local club, Darwin Tabletop Gamers*